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Dr. Jim Wright is the managing director and chair of the Therapeutics Initiative and a professor at the University of British Columbia.

Photograph by: Les Bazso
, PNG files

Two narratives have emerged from the shroud of secrecy surrounding the firing of Ministry of Health officials last year over allegations of breaches of privacy.

The first has dripped out from the government, in leaks to reporters, in press releases, in ominous statements from Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid, and lately through filings in court.

The other has also emerged from allegations filed in court, and from interviews on and off the record.

Neither can be confirmed at this point as the whole truth, or even a large part of it. The difference between the two, however, is that one is supported by a plausible context while the other is at best still a complete mystery.

The plausible context is the ongoing campaign by pharmaceutical companies with millions of dollars at stake to pluck an expensive thorn from their sides — the independent research by the UBC-based and government-funded Therapeutics Initiative that has cut into some of their sales.

The complete mystery would be the motive for reputable scientists to risk their reputations and careers to break protocols put in place to protect patient privacy for no apparent gain of any sort.

For almost two decades, the TI has been looking at whether prescription drugs really perform as claimed. Its findings have saved lives and health care dollars that otherwise have been squandered on ineffective, or worse, dangerous treatments.

Not surprisingly, the companies that supplied those drugs have not been amused, and have been trying with some success to isolate the TI and get it shut down. An industry-dominated panel appointed by the Liberal government five years ago was the precursor to a series of cuts to TI funding, which was recently eliminated completely after being frozen as a result of the investigations into the alleged privacy breaches.

Which brings us back to the two narratives.

The first starts with a tip to the auditor-general in March, 2012, that Health Ministry officials were violating protocols and putting personal health information at risk. The ministry starts an internal investigation. It confirms that indeed, rules are being broken. Before long, some officials are suspended.

In September, just hours after being appointed minister, MacDiarmid announces that four officials have been fired and three suspended. Research contracts with UBC and the University of Victoria are also suspended or cancelled. No names are released, but within the ministry and in the small health research community outside, word of who is involved quickly spreads, and within a couple of days they have all been identified in newspaper reports. No motives are given or known. Neither is it apparent that any personal information was ever at risk of being made public. An investigation by the provincial privacy commissioner is still underway.

In this narrative, the bad guys have all been caught and the public protected. Subsequently, they are all fired, including a 46-year-old co-op student, Roderick MacIsaac, who is later found dead in his home from as-yet-unidentified causes, although foul play has been ruled out.

The second narrative starts the same way, and has much the same consequences for those involved.

Their professional reputations have been left in tatters, their life’s work has been taken from them, and their incomes cut off in a series of events in which they see themselves not as the villains, but as collateral damage in the ongoing campaign by pharmaceutical companies to derail the Therapeutics Initiative.

What really happened? The government refuses to release any details about what has transpired, first citing privacy concerns and an ongoing investigation, then as the fired employees started to file suit for wrongful dismissal and defamation, because the matter is before the courts.

As of Tuesday, the matter is still officially under investigation by the ministry, more than a year after the initial tip was received. Given the pace of our legal system, it could be years before any of the fired officials get a day in court.

In six days, voters will decide whether this case is picked up again by a Liberal government that, as Premier Christy Clark said during the CKNW leader’s debate, has to consider private interests in making drug policy, and that cancelled the funding for the Therapeutics Initiative. Or will it be a government led by the NDP, which promises to restore funding to the TI.

The election result won’t make any difference to the narrative so far, but could radically alter how the story ends.

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